The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER XXXIII (Book 33)

Of my Lord Castlemain's being sent Ambassa∣dor to Rome by K. James; and of his re∣ceiving the Pope's Nuncio in England.

My Lord,

THAT my Lord of Castlemain was sent Ambassador to Rome, has been transacted wholly on your side of the Water; for besides

that, this Court were then, and are still, at variance with the Papal See: There is not the least Instruction transmitted from hence (as far as I can find) either to England or Rome con∣cerning that matter; but perhaps he might re∣ceive them in transit••, and by word of mouth, only from M. L. who failed not to see him: But as for Count Dada, the Apostol••ck Nuncio, as they call him, they have shewed some Con∣cern here that he should have an honourable Reception in England, and have order'd it so as to get our King to dispense with that Cere∣mony which Henry VIII, and even his Daughter Queen Mary, insisted upon, that he should wait like a Mumper at a French Port till he had Leave granted him to enter into England; And that the English Nation, who had not seen such a Vision for near an Age and a half, might not be overterrified with it, the French Agents were instructed to suggest unto those Lords and others whom they should think most susceptible of their Sophistry; That since the King, as a Ro∣man-Catholick Prince, could do no less than send an Ambassador to Rome to salute the Pope, tho' it were but for form-sake, and that his said Ambassador had had such an extraordinary Reception, and great Civilities shewed him there; it were but very equitable the King, in his turn, should shew the like to his Nuncio, who was a Layman, and in that quality came to con∣gratulate his accession to the Throne, from his Master; not so much as he sate in St. Peter's Chair, as he was a Temporal Prince, to whose Ministers, as such, the Law of Nations requi∣red a just Deference should be paid: That to send a solemn Embassy to the Great Turk, who was a Mahumetan, and a sworn Enemy to all

Christians, however denominated, was never so much as boggled at by any English-man or other Christian Nation whatsoever, either in this or any preceding Age: That the Ambassadors of the Emperor of Morocco had been lately recei∣ved in England most honourably, and yet their Master both a Mahametan and a Barbarian Prince, in whose Countries Christians were treated more like Brute-Beasts than Men; and should they disdain to concur with their Prince, to receive with some Ceremony, and if not by way of a publick and pompous Entry, yet pri∣vately in his Palace, a Minister from him to whose Civilities many of our English Nobility and Gentry were highly obliged in their Tra∣vels to Rome and Italy? But what Success they have had in this petty Agency, your Lordship can tell much better than I at this distance: but the Duke of Somerset is as highly exclaimed against here, for refusing to perform the Cere∣mony of introducing the Nuncio, as the Duke of Grafton is applauded for doing of it, who, I hope for all that, will never have the Thanks of a House of Commons for it. I am,

My Lord,

Your very obedient and humble Servant.

Paris, Nov. 2••. 1••87. N. S.